So, Google has come under scrutiny by the US Federal Trade Commission for possible anti-competitive practices. While I would say the FTC has far larger threats to competition to worry about (the inevitable p-word), it would appear there's sufficient suspicion to take a gander at Google's business practices.

IMHO, all this is really doing is forcing Google to hire more lawyers and lobbyists. So, I don't see it doing what Thom thinks it's doing, and as a US taxpayer, it seems like the govt is merely a pawn in a larger corporate struggle here, and is wasting money to help some corporations (and lawyers in general) at the expense of another. I don't think consumer choice is the real issue at all.